What would our current lives be like without computer games? Better or worse? Computer games are undoubtably a mixed blessing. They can be addictive and therefore harmful and they can be entertaining and joyful. But overall, would your life be better or worse without them?

My answer: I never was much of a "social butterfly" and would probably still be playing around with miniatures or something else in lieu of computer games. I'd like to think that I would get out of the house more without them but I've always been a kind of hermit anyway. So on the aggregate I don't think computer games have done much harm to me or my lifestyle. Even before computers I mostly kept to myself, never went out about the town much. Now with computer games I have more things to entertain me in life than before.

I suppose it is a kind of sad life to keep to oneself but I have found life more bearable away from other people. Too much contact with others tires me out and usually ends up bringing me down. Strangely enough contact with others over the Internet is not as tiring or depressing. Not sure why...

True, that's something I hadn't thought of. Before computer games took over my life I liked to read a lot of philosopohy books and I think that helped me along in many ways. So I might need to revise my statement and say that computer games have done a bit of harm to me.

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Favorite/Awesome games from Matrix

War in the Pacific/AE Panzer Corps Commander Europe at War John Tiller's Campaign Series The Close Combat Series (all versions) Advanced Tactics Gold

My son has an ipod touoch and I have 7" Android Tablet and they make great books... this PC has an over 2000 book library on it which I DL to the connected devices... I'm currently reading Pegasus Bridge and my son the Bourne Identity.... But we're flooded with choice in this internet age.

My son has an ipod touoch and I have 7" Android Tablet and they make great books... this PC has an over 2000 book library on it which I DL to the connected devices... I'm currently reading Pegasus Bridge and my son the Bourne Identity.... But we're flooded with choice in this internet age.

Exactly! Which book to read? I remember facing that dilemma many times, even with a library of only 200+ books (physical copies). If I had 2000 e-copies I don't know what I'd do.

I'm not much of an e-reading fan. Something about sitting there reading a long text on a computer screen gets agitating after a while. It just doesn't feel right or something.

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Favorite/Awesome games from Matrix

War in the Pacific/AE Panzer Corps Commander Europe at War John Tiller's Campaign Series The Close Combat Series (all versions) Advanced Tactics Gold

As a special education teacher, I fully contend that most of our educational issues can be directly related to the age of television and computers. We as a people no longer reflect and seriously consider cause and effect issues. We want everything delivered in a sound bite. I am guilty of this as well, since I hate reading complicated manuals. I still love to read, but I do read less than I use to, due to my electronic world. I don't own a television in my house.

I have a good collection of board wargames, so if the PC breaks down I am covered. There are excellent producers like GMT, DVG, Compass, Clash of arms etc. Some of my favourites are Fields of fire, Phantom leader, Silent war, Hell of stalingrad.

My son has an ipod touoch and I have 7" Android Tablet and they make great books... this PC has an over 2000 book library on it which I DL to the connected devices... I'm currently reading Pegasus Bridge and my son the Bourne Identity.... But we're flooded with choice in this internet age.

I don't lack books to read, in fact it's the opposite. I love books and buy much more than i was able to read in this era of entertainment flooding as you say: Internet, TV series, PC games... A don't need an e-reader... i need more free time, 48 hour days or a huge self discipline. But i fear i don't have any of it I mean... right now i should be doing something more productive or enlightening than lingering aroudn forums and the like ...and fortunately i have never get into social networks: facebook and the like must be like huge black holes for one's time!! Cheers

Thing about a book is: you don't get to, nor are you required to make decisions. You can't make any mistakes. Books are IMO overrated. Interactive learning is the wave of the future.

Currently computer games only barely scratch the surface of the possibilities in this respect, and tend toward the 'entertainment' end of things. On the other hand, the 'interactive education' media are on the other end of the continuum, barely scratching the surface as well. Somewhere in the middle lies the future of human intellect.

Obviously it did not come true, TV is the biggest swamp of idiocy ever (and maybe gaming is moving that way too, I dunno), but originally people prophecied that TV would turn out to be a huge transformer of education.

Honestly, my experience is that the future of education and entertainment tends more towards shallowness and dumbing down everything than to any other thing Probably i'm just too old a dog to learn new tricks and all that

What would our current lives be like without computer games? Better or worse? Computer games are undoubtably a mixed blessing. They can be addictive and therefore harmful and they can be entertaining and joyful. But overall, would your life be better or worse without them?

Warspite1

Thought provoking question Gary Childress.

I think if there were no computer games, those of us that grew up playing board games would probably carry on doing that, until the first of: stopping because they no longer interest us, or stopping because our lives/circumstances have changed. In my case its the latter. Now with a family, limited room in the house and with even more limited free time, I doubt if I could carry on playing the war games I loved playing and testing out new ones. World In Flames for example is i.m.o the best game ever, but is a huge commitment in time and space - impossible now sadly. But having a computer and access to such games has enabled me to continue this passion for wargaming - I just need Matrix to get MWIF finished before I drop off this mortal coil .

Have they made life better? Well I guess that because I have been able to continue something I always enjoyed thanks to computer games being around, then yes that's good, but maybe something else would have come along - who knows?

I certainly feel a tinge of guilt sometimes when I look back and see just how much time has been spent on a game; could I have put that effort, that energy into something more productive? I think that can be a problem when a game comes along that really, really grips you - like my first computer game, Desert Rats for the old Spectrum computer, and later Civ II and later still - and to a lesser extent - Rome Total War. But that feeling of guilt does not last long - I know plenty of women that are widows to their partner's golf, football, fishing or whatever..

In summary, I believe they have been - and hopefully will continue to be - a good thing, complementing my passion for history generally and military history in particular.

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England expects that every man will do his duty - Horatio Nelson 1805.

Thing about a book is: you don't get to, nor are you required to make decisions. You can't make any mistakes. Books are IMO overrated. Interactive learning is the wave of the future.

Currently computer games only barely scratch the surface of the possibilities in this respect, and tend toward the 'entertainment' end of things. On the other hand, the 'interactive education' media are on the other end of the continuum, barely scratching the surface as well. Somewhere in the middle lies the future of human intellect.

Obviously it did not come true, TV is the biggest swamp of idiocy ever (and maybe gaming is moving that way too, I dunno), but originally people prophecied that TV would turn out to be a huge transformer of education.

This is also a good point. Computers ARE more interactive. One thing I like to do almost as soon as I get a game is to tinker with the inner workings to see if I can make it better. Whether I'm scrutinizing the Japanese order of battle in War in the Pacific or using 3D modeling programs to create new units for Civilization III, I'm learning new things and developing skills. I don't know how useful those skills are but at least they excercise the brain a little more than some other pass-times.

Compters probably excercise our problem solving skills a bit more than most books do. I can say with some certainty that I have gotten better at understanding computers since I have used them for gaming. Surely that is a good skill to have in this day and age as opposed to being completely computer illiterate. Which would be better, being a book read-a-holic who never takes his head out of the pages or being a computer geek who never gets away from a computer? I would think that computers are a more timely area of expertise.

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Favorite/Awesome games from Matrix

War in the Pacific/AE Panzer Corps Commander Europe at War John Tiller's Campaign Series The Close Combat Series (all versions) Advanced Tactics Gold

I read technical books and manuals. I have the MUTCD, the caltrans highway design manual, and several highway design manuals by the federal government and other agencies. I've also read books all electrical systems. This also because I plan to be an engineer after college. Teachers constantly tell students that they should be reading books and what not. I'll be honest, I don't give a damn about reading about someone's life story(I too busy with my own life, why would I want to read about someone else's?) or made up fantasy worlds like twilight or harry potter. They don't interest me. I'll read plenty of war history books, but that's about it.

Now, Call of Duty is just mindless shooting. But I've found Wargaming to be quite educational. By playing WitP:AE and interacting with gurus on the forums, I've learned allot of stuff about the Pacific War. Because Steel Panthers peaked my interest in WWII, I have read books and I know the difference between a Panzer IV F or a Panzer IV D by heart for example.

You mean you can do without watching those women in the morning and getting advice on how your outlook on life and politics should be? You might should at least get a little portable TV just for that. I mean, wisdom is hard to come by these days. Oh wait a minute, that would be a different TV show, never mind. Wait another minute... that wouldn't be ANY TV show. Just forget it then.

By the way, in answer to this forums question, my life would be pretty boring without computer gaming. My other hobby is Ham Radio and with the bad conditions now for the air waves, I would be doing a lot more reading. So computer games have kept my sanity. I can't imagine the last 24 years without them.

Life without Broodwars Armageddon or Close Combat: Russian Front would be unbearable.

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Germany's unforgivable crime before the Second World War was her attempt to extricate her economy from the world's trading system and to create her own exchange mechanism which would deny world finance its opportunity to profit. — Winston Churchill

But probably where I was before - pushing pieces of cardboard around on a paper map and hurling dice about whilst scrabbling to read multiple result tables

What I would give to teleport back to 1972...(Knowing then what I know now of course). Less is more.

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Germany's unforgivable crime before the Second World War was her attempt to extricate her economy from the world's trading system and to create her own exchange mechanism which would deny world finance its opportunity to profit. — Winston Churchill

Speaking only for myself, I'd say that overall my life is better with PC games.

Much as I love reading (and boy do I ever), I still can't do so for more than a few hours a day. In addition, one can watch only so many movies and TV shows, and outdoor activities are pretty much out of the question for me (due to medical reasons). And playing board games with my friends -- much as I love doing so -- is problematic more often than not, since finding a time that works for everyone is difficult under even the best of circumstances.

For all those reasons, I find computer games a godsend. So long as I don't become genuinely addicted to them, it's all good.

Computer gaming for me took away bowling, golf, tennis, racquet ball, softball and some basketball. It really took away my health as I rarely get any exercise anymore because I gotta game. lol Now I have diabetes 2! I don't find anything interesting on tv anymore but old reruns of Andy Griffith show, M.A.S.H. and Everybody Loves Raymond and Seinfield. lol And READING? gah what a boring field of socalled entertainment it puts me to sleep now. lol I used to read fantasy novels all the time. So, computer gaming took away my natural life and gave to me an artificial fictional one. Hrmmm I wonder if I could sue gaming companies like they did cigarette companies for addicting them to cigarettes? heeh

When I was a teenager and still living at home, we didn't have a lot of money. There was this used book store that you could trade books in and buy used books for a lot cheaper than list price. It was always a treat when my family would go to "Trade N Books" or whatever it is called because we couldn't afford to buy new books at the rate we read them.

I think there is something to be said about reading books. To me it isn't about not getting to make a choice, or reading about someone's life. It's about seeing how other people think and feel. It's to make us more rounded. Reading promotes a better understanding of the language.

But if there were no computer games, I would just surf the internet more. (I do still read and am reading two books at the present time).